History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network

The Times, LONDON, June 6, 1879. The steamer Faraday will leave Millwall, on the Lower Thames, on Monday next, and begin loading the new French Atlantic cable on Tuesday, and will sail in about a week after. The shore ends and the Brest and Scilly connection will be laid first. The Faraday will then return to the Thames for the deep-sea cable, which is being manufactured as rapidly as possible.

New York Times: LONDON, June 25, 1879. A telegram from the steamer Faraday announces that 140 knots of the cable have been paid out since last report.

New York Times: LONDON, August 12, 1879. Up to yesterday, the 11th inst., the steamer Faraday had laid successfully over 1,000 miles of the new French cable.

New York Times: LONDON, Sept. 6, 1879. The Standard says it has authentic information that the deep-sea section of the French cable has been laid and that the line is complete from Brest to St. Pierre. The steamer Faraday is now returning to Europe to ship the section of the cable which is to connect St. Pierre with New-York.

New York Times: LONDON, Oct. 8, 1879. The steamer Faraday has sailed for St. Pierre, Miquelon, to complete the laying of the new French cable.

New York Times: LONDON, Nov. 4, 1879. Siemens Brothers, of the Ocean Telegraph Cable Works here, have received a telegram from the steamer Faraday, through the new French cable, and dated on Nov. 3, stating that the Faraday had successfully completed the present part of the operations of laying the cable, and is proceeding to Halifax.

New York Times: HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Nov. 4, 1879. The cable steamer Faraday arrived today. She has laid a telegraph cable for the new French company between Brest and St. Pierre, and is now engaged in laying a cable between the latter place and Cape Cod. The Faraday was in the heavy gale of last week, but kept steadily at work. The cable was buoyed 200 miles from Cape Cod on Sunday night.

New York Times: NORTH EASTHAM, Mass., Nov. 15, 1879. A watch was kept all last night, by a large number of men, for the steamer Faraday, but it was not until 7:30 this morning that she was dimly discerned through the light fog which lay over the water. The Faraday approached, until at 10 o'clock she anchored about a mile from the beach. A boat then put off from the steamer, proceeded about half way to the beach, made frequent soundings, and returned to the steamer at 11:30.

New York Times: NORTH EASTHAM, Mass., Nov 17, 1879. To-day the final splice was made, and the cable was worked throughout the entire circuit from Cape Cod to Brest.

New York Times: LONDON, March 23, 1881. It is stated that the cable steamer Faraday, which will be engaged in laying the new Atlantic cable, is under orders to sail at the end of April.

New York Times: LONDON, May 5, 1881. The Globe to-day says: "The cable construction steamer Faraday will sail to-day with 900 miles of cable to lay the shore ends of a new cable. She will begin operations at Penzance, then cross to Cape Sable, and then return for the deep-sea section. It is expected that two lines will be finished this Summer."

New York Times: NEW-YORK, May 10, 1881. The cable construction steamer Faraday, which has started to lay the shore ends of the new cable, has passed the Lizard, going westward.

New York Times: LONDON, June 5, 1881. The cable steamer Faraday has arrived at Penzance. Over 900 miles of the new telegraph cable have been laid.

New York Times: PENZANCE, June 8, 1881. The steamer Faraday has successfully landed the shore end of the new Atlantic Cable.

New York Times: LONDON, June 28, 1881. The cable construction steamer Faraday picked up the buoyed end of the new cable off Land’s End to-day and spliced it, and then proceeded for Newfoundland, laying the cable.

New York Times: LONDON, July 21, 1881. The steamer Faraday has landed the shore end of the new Atlantic cable near Land's End.

New York Times: LONDON, Aug. 27, 1881. The steamer Faraday, engaged in laying the new Atlantic cable, returned to Plymouth yesterday, where she shipped 400 tons of coil. She will leave this morning to resume operations. Since Monday last she has laid 200 miles of cable.

New York Times: HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, March 24, 1882. A telegram from Canso, Guysboro County, says the cable steamer Faraday arrived at Dover Bay on Wednesday [March 22], and discharged into schooners waiting to receive them a number of large drums containing cables to connect the deep sea sections of the two new cables for the American Telegraph and Cable Company with their station at Canso. These are now being laid in a trench a distance of about seven miles, between Dover Cove and the town of Canso, and it is expected will be completed in a few days The shore end of the second deep sea cable was successfully landed at noon yesterday, and soon after the Faraday proceeded to sea, paying out cable to join with the portion of the second cable, which she laid last Fall, and which is buoyed about 500 miles from this point.

New York Times: HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, April 7, 1882. A telegram from the cable steamer Faraday reports that she has successfully completed the laying of the new cable. She passed through large fields of ice off Torbay, and on March 29 encountered a severe westerly gale, and afterward heavy snowstorms.

New York Times: LONDON, Feb. 21, 1884. The steamer Faraday, which left Queenstown some time ago with a portion of the new Mackay cable on board, has returned to Portland. She has lost her port propeller, and is coming to London for survey. The Faraday is owned by the Siemens Company, of London, who have contracted to lay the new cable. It does not become the property of the Bennett-Mackay Commercial Company until it is completed and has been in good working order for 30 days. The Faraday hes been out about 16 days, but made frequent stops to take soundings. George G. Ward, the Superintendent of the Commercial Company's affairs in this country, said last night that the mishap would cause no delay in completing the work by next Fall.

Note: On 2 February 1884 the Faraday left Queenstown to lay the first section of the Commercial Cable Company's Atlantic cable. On 7 February the ship ran into a gale which lasted for over a week, causing considerable damage; a second gale on the 17th caused further damage. This caused a two-month delay in the project.

New York Times: LONDON, April 16, 1884. The steam-ship Faraday cleared for Nova Scotia today. She carriers the first installment of the Mackay-Bennett cable to the amount of 1,100 miles.

New York Times: HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 6, 1884. The steamer Faraday, with the Bennett-Mackay cable on board, has arrived in Dover Bay. A telegram from Torbay reports the sea smooth and the weather fine, with a north-west breeze.

New York Times: HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 19, 1884. The cable steamer Faraday, which is engaged in laying the Bennett-Mackay cable, sailed hence this evening for Cape Ann. She will take up the end of the cable, which is buoyed off the harbor, and proceed with the work.

New York Times: ROCKPORT, Mass., May 21, 1884. Rockport townspeople are getting a little impatient over the delay of the Faraday, which was expected here from Dover Bay, Nova Scotia, a full week ago, with the Mackay-Bennett ocean cable in her trail.

New York Times: ROCKPORT, Mass., May 22, 1884. It was the unexpected which happened to-day in the Mackay-Bennett cable matter. The townspeople, by reason of the long series of disappointments they had experienced, had settled down to a skeptical attitude and become disinclined to accept any reports of the Faraday's speedy arrival. And so it happened that the steamer came, landed the shore cable, and steamed off beyond the horizon almost before the Cape Ann people had fairly realized the fact that the thing was being actually accomplished.
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New York Times: LONDON, June 21, 1884. The Faraday will leave the Thames on Monday [June 23] with 5,000 tons of cable. She will proceed at once to Waterville Bay, on the Kerry coast of Ireland, and lay the shore end or heavy type of cable, in the same manner as at Rockport, Mass. This work will probably be completed by Friday afternoon, when the connection with the deep-sea portion will be made and the course of the ship laid for the buoy which she left in mid-ocean a few weeks ago, and to which is attached the American half of the cable. The buoy will probably be reached by the 20th of July, when by splicing the end attached to the buoy, and that end on board the ship, the circuit will be completed between England and America, and, barring accident, the first of the two proposed Mackay-Bennett cables will be in working order.

New York Times: June 25, 1884. The steamer Faraday passed the Lizard to-day after laying the shore end of the Mackay-Bennett cable to Waterville. She goes to Cork to coal, and will then complete the cable.

New York Times: London, July 9 1884. A dispatch received last evening from the steamer Faraday, which is engaged in laying. the Mackay-Bennett cable, states that she had picked up the Irish coast end 200 miles out, and had laid 250 miles more. The weather was fine, and it was expected that the work of laying the entire cable would soon be completed.

New York Times: London, July 19, 1884. There is great rejoicing in Waterville to-night over a message just received from the electricians on the steamer Faraday who are laying the new Mackay-Bennett cable. They have kept themselves constantly in communication with the Irish terminus at Waterville through the cable which they are laying, and this evening the officials on shore received the welcome news that the Faraday had arrived at the buoy in midocean which marks the end of that portion of the line which was laid from America. The news was soon spread to London and Paris, and messages of congratulation have ever since been pouring in to the little office at Waterville, where the event is being celebrated with copious libations of champagne.

New York Times: London, Aug. 26, 1884. The steamship Faraday has laid the first deep sea portion of the second Mackay-Bennett cable, and is now returning to Woolwich to receive the remainder of the deep sea portion and the American shore end.

New York Times: Oct. 18, 1884. The new Mackay-Bennett cable, one end of which arrived off Manhattan Beach on Thursday morning, is not yet landed, owing to another accident which occurred yesterday. The men on board the Faraday, the cable steamer, did not cease their work of coiling the cable on the rafts moored beside the ship until late on Thursday night.

New York Times: Oct. 19, 1884. After all delays the new Mackay-Bennett ocean cable found a safe resting place for its American end at 12:30 o'clock yesterday, in the pretty little cottage prepared for its reception on Manhattan Beach, just east of the Oriental Hotel.

New York Times: HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Oct. 25, 1884. The steamer Faraday, which arrived from New-York to-day, will take 2,000 tons of coal on board. She will remain until the first of the week, and then proceed to sea to find and repair the broken portion of the first Mackay-Bennett cable.

New York Times: LONDON, Nov. 8, 1884. Communication with America through the new Mackay-Bennett cables has now ceased entirely. It is believed at the London office that the damage has been caused by icebergs off the Banks of Newfoundland. It is hoped here that the cable officials in New-York will be able to communicate soon with the Faraday, and that repairs be proceeded with forthwith.

New York Times: NEW-YORK, Dec. 10, 1884. The laying of the cables of the Commercial Cable Company through the streets of this city, from the New-York anchorage of the bridge to the company's office at Wall and Broad streets, has been practically completed. As soon as the necessary splices are made at the bridge anchorage and at the hut on Coney Island telegraphic communication will be opened between New-York and Ireland. It is expected that this will be done next Friday. The steam­ship Faraday is now looking for the break in the southern cable.

New York Times: June 10, 1885. The steamer Faraday has completed the laying of the commercial cable section from Waterville, Ireland, to Weston-super-Mare, England.

New York Times: Sep. 9, 1885. The cable steamship Faraday, Capt. Le Fanu, passed the Isle of Wight today.

New York Times: NORTH EASTHAM, Mass., Nov. 15, 1889. A party of gentlemen, representing the Pouyer-Quertier Cable and the American Union Telegraph Companies, came down to this remote Cape Cod village today in a special parlor and hotel car on the regular train, to witness the arrival and landing of the new French cable.

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New York Times: LONDON, April 12, 1894. The steamer Faraday, with a part of the Commercial Cable Company's new cable, sailed from here to­day. The cable is to be laid from Waterville, Ireland, to Nova Scotia. The entire cable will be about 2,000 miles long. The Faraday, not being large enough to carry the whole cable, will drop the shore sections, about 500 miles, first, and then lay the deep-sea cable, which is smaller than the shore ends.

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New York Times: LONDON, June 12, 1894. The steamship Faraday sailed from Messrs. Siemens Brothers' works at Woolwich at 7:30 o'clock this evening, having on board 1,600 miles of the Commercial Cable Company's new cable. She will proceed to a point 150 miles off the Irish coast, where she will splice on to the shore end, already laid. She will then proceed to Nova Scotia, where the final splice will be made. The cable, everything going favorably, is expected to be laid by the 30th of June.

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New York Times: NEWPORT. R. I., Aug. 27, 1894. The cable steamer Faraday of the Mackay-Bennett Commercial Cable Company sailed for New-York this afternoon. The visit of this strange visitor to these waters is for the purpose of landing the company's cable at Coney Island. The feat is expected to be difficult of accomplishment, because of the heavy currents.

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